Notes
Workout day after school. 9 degrees w/ NW winds gusting to 36 when I started, 2 degrees w/ NW winds gusting to 30 when I finished.
I threw on the warm clothes and ran around town for my warm-up, finally building up the courage to go run in the part of town by the gas station with all the dogs. Only three chased me, but they backed off pretty quick when I acted aggressive towards them (my new safety measure these last couple years- if dogs chase and bark at you, face them and take a menacing step towards them. They usually back off immediately). I finished up at the fitness center and stripped down to the 2 layers I had stuff in my running jacket pockets (shorts and a racing jersey).
Then I hopped on the dreadmill for a 6 mile progression:
1- 6:00 (1% incline)
2- 5:50
3- 5:40
4- 5:30
5- 5:20
6- 5:10 (6 miles in 33:30)
After drying off and walking around (not a dry spot remained on my jersey), I threw on my warm clothes and ran a one-mile cooldown home into the wind. The fitness center is exactly one mile from my house, but it's open country inbetween those two parts of town, so brrrrrr.
As for the workout, I'd give this a 3/10 on the difficulty scale. The only time I was uncomfortable was when legs were starting to tire during the last mile. However, my breathing was fine throughout and overall I felt very strong and comfortable. I know for a fact I could've run 5:00 for mile 7 and still not gone to the well. Very encouraging to see such a good workout right now. I was thinking about stopping and holding at 5:30 pace for a few miles, but I decided that now I need to be hitting quality long-distance workouts to build up good strength, and my equivalent half marry pace from my 5k race is 5:15, so I wanted to dip down there for a little bit. I want to hold 5:15 pace for 13.1 miles in 3 1/2 months!